Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 114 · middle

Pickle Juice

VOLUME V — the CURES, crawling back to life. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Pickle Juice". Its true history: Russia/Poland/Eastern Europe — shots of pickle brine for the sodium and potassium; a vaudeville briny gulp. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Step right up to the morning brigade!

[Verse 1]
Got a head like a hammered tin drum,
And a tongue like a dusty museum.
You've been painting the square with the plum,
Now you're begging the sun, 'please don't see 'em.'
It’s a terrible ache in the hat,
When the devil arrives to collect on the bet.

[Chorus]
But the old Warsaw boys know the ruse!
When the tavern is taking its dues,
Tip a little green glass of the Pickle Juice!
It’s a shock to the system, a spark for the fuse,
Oh, the potassium magic of Pickle Juice!
P-p-p-pickle Juice!

[Verse 2]
Now the doctors will rattle their charts,
'Bout the sodium drops and the liver.
But the fellow from Moscow departs
With a briny old jar by the river.
It’s a cloudy elixir, a cucumber prize,
To open the curtains right over your eyes.

[Chorus]
Yeah, the old Warsaw boys know the ruse!
When the tavern is taking its dues,
Tip a little green glass of the Pickle Juice!
It’s a shock to the system, a spark for the fuse,
Oh, the potassium magic of Pickle Juice!
P-p-p-pickle Juice!

[Bridge]
Down the hatch, take the plunge!
Let the vinegar snap like a trap!
Put the rosy red back in your cheek!
It’s a trick from the freezing cold map,
To get you upright for the week.

[Chorus]
Cause the old Warsaw boys know the ruse!
When the tavern is taking its dues,
Tip a little green glass of the Pickle Juice!
It’s a shock to the system, a spark for the fuse,
Oh, the potassium magic of Pickle Juice!
P-p-p-pickle Juice!

[Outro]
Pour a shot of the green!
The saltiest cure that you ever have seen!
Just a jar of the brine...
And I'm suddenly fine.
Keep the jar on the line!